Sous-Chef
Sous-Chef # Fei Yen toddles over with an armful of blanket, dumps it on the floor, and returns to the linen closet. # "May we help?" offers Jin. # "Puff, peaz," she orders. # Hu goes off in search of another blanket. # "Pillow, too, peaz." # "What kind of pillow?" asks Jin. # "Seepy pillow, peaz." # Jin heads off to her room. # "Anything else?" asks Cheung. # "Bassies, peaz." # "Bath towels it is." Cheung pushes himself to his feet, joins her in rifling through the bedclothes. # "Here you are," announces Jin as he and Hu return. "Where would you like them?" # "Sit, peaz." # Jin and Hu put their loot on the chesterfield. # "Danku." Fei Yen scans the shelves. "Da un, peaz." # Cheung pulls down a stack of towels. "These ones?" # "Yes. Danku." She tugs his pant leg in the direction of the sitting room. # "Are we making a fort?" asks Jin. # "No fort," replies Fei Yen. "Buhzonyah." She spreads the first blanket flat on the carpet. # Neither Cheung nor Jin nor Hu can parse that. # "What kind?" asks Jin. # Fei Yen pauses. # "Classic, modern..." offers Hu. # "Kiddy," Fei Yen states. "Pillow, peaz." # "One pillow," says Cheung. # "Danku." Fei Yen measures the blanket. "Two, peaz." # "One more pillow or two more pillows?" asks Jin. # "One more pillow, peaz." # Hu hands her another pillow. # Fei Yen lies them both side by side. "Kiddy now." She toddles deeper into the suite. # Cheung pulls out his phone, opens a new message, taps 'send audio file'. # Fei Yen returns with Blake (somewhat-overweight grey cat), drops him on a pillow. # Jin begins, "So you're making kitty...?" # "Buhzonyah." # Blake huffs, makes himself comfortable. # WTCheung: nang, what is feiby saying? # Fei Yen toddles away. # And_Lo!: survey says 'lasagna'. # "A kitty lasagna," muses Hu. # Jin hops a little. "We should make it a triplet-and-cat lasagna." # "We totally should," grins Hu. # Cheung scoops up Blake and the pillow. # Hu and Jin scramble for the other two. # "Lie down, quick!" # "What about you?" # "Someone's gotta put the pillows back." # Meowing from the hall. # Jin and Hu throw themselves to the blanket, lie shoulder to shoulder. # Cheung replaces Blake and that pillow-- # "Mmrmph!" # "It's a cat, he doesn't weigh that much." Grabs the rest of the layer. # "The pillow's a bit smothering." # "You'll be fine." # ""Ooof!"" # Cheung jogs down the hall. # Fei Yen's picking herself off the floor, three cats frowning in the laundry basket. # "May I help?" offers Cheung. # "Yes, peaz." Fei Yen dusts off her overalls. "Kiddies heavy." # Cheung picks it up. "It /is heavy. Did you push this all the way from your mum's room?" # "Puss it, yes." # "That's very impressive. Shall we add these to the lasagna?" # "Yes, peaz." # "Back to it, then." # They manage to get there without either of them tripping over each other and the pile of pillows (and cat) is giggling. # Fei Yen frowns. "Buhzonyah tickle?" # "You've got yourself a souschef," explains Cheung. "And I thought you might want to make triplet-cat lasagna." # "Tipet-kiddy buhzonyah." Fei Yen nods. "Yes." Makes grabby hands for the basket. # "Awesome." Cheung puts down his load. # "Kiddy come." Fei Yen tries to get a cat. # "Allow me." Cheung hands over Artemis (of average size, silver and white). # "Maaaau," she whines. # "Kiddy," coos Fei Yen, plopping Artemis onto the middle pillow. # Blake sneers. # "I have Orion and Leelu." # "Dere and dere, peaz." # Down go Orion and Leelu. # "Mmmph," grunts Hu. # "Ignore the food," advises Cheung. # "I'noring food," agrees Fei Yen. "Bassies, peaz." # Cheung hands over a few. # Fei Yen spreads them over the cats. # "Maaaaaaaaaaaau," protests Blake. # "I'noring food," says Fei Yen. "Pantses, peaz." # "Spread it over the towels?" # Fei Yen smiles proudly. "Yes. Good tipet." # "Thank you." Cheung sprinkles socks and shirts and PJs over the towels. "Good?" # "Good. Puff, peaz." # "Just on top?" # "Yes." # Cheung shakes out the blanket, floats it down. # Orion crawls free. # "No! Kiddy!" Fei Yen scurries around the lasagna. # Leelu takes the opportunity to worm out. # "Kiddy! No! Buhzonyah!" # "It's okay!" assures Cheung. "Jin and Hu are still there!" # Jin grumps. # "Tipet buhzonyah." Fei Yen ponders. "Tipet buhzonyah good." # "Triplet lasagna is very good. Very tasty," agrees Cheung. "Picture?" # Fei Yen lights up. "Teezes, yes, peaz!" # "Say 'cheese'!" # "Teez!" Footnotes i Puff, peaz: Fei Yen’s word for a heavier blanket like a comforter or duvet (personal data); /pl/ consonant cluster; ii Pillow, too, peaz: the children of two interviewed caregivers could both produce ‘pillow’ correctly. iii Which consonant would she delete, the /s/ or the /l/? (McLoed et al., 2001) iv Bassies: Bath towels v Hoff, 2010 how to teach kids to talk vi What Fei Yen calls chesterfields. vii Should this have a /t/ or a glottal stop? viii Danku: getting a better handle on “thank you”; no gesture anymore ix Acquisition of “no” is when? First instance of lasagna x Fei Yen thinking of how adjectives work (is there a source for this?) xi Illustrating Fei Yen’s still somewhat unrefined articulation. xii “Thank you” (18, 22) xiii Quantifiers, sentence structure xiv “Yes”: Fei Yen can produce word-final /s/ with consistency. “Kiddy now” Check syntax (“Now kiddy”?) xv Gillen or Stilwell-Peccei: “only meaningful to their parents” xvi “Kiddies heavy” Acquisition of /-s/, check syntax (“is/are”? “Heavy kiddies”?) xvii Puss it: xviii -ing morpheme (Goodluck or Hoff?), how Fei Yen captures ‘laughing’. xix “Tipet-cat bozonyah”: /tr/ and /pl/ are still tricky xx Attempting /theta/ and failing xxi Ignoring food: check syntax, phonology xxii Pantses: over correcting grammar, her overextension/segmentation error for “clothers” xxiii Good tipet: consonant clusters, check syntax (if she can say ‘is’, have her say “tipet is good” (or maybe not?)) xxiv Tipet bozonyah good: check syntax xxv How to ‘teach’ kids words xxvi Teezes: segmentation error, failure to produce t͡ʃ Analysis Fei Yen will not be able to produce the /pl/ consonant cluster until she's about 4 years old (3, 5, 7, 10, 13, 15, 24, 26, 28, 58, 62, 75, 79, 83, 87, 99; McLeod et al, 2001). In line 99, Fei Yen displays a speech segmentation error as seen in Stilwell-Peccei (2006:14); the act of taking a picture, having a picture taken, and pictures, are all lumped under "Say 'cheese'!". However, the t͡ʃ in /t͡ʃiːz/ (99, 101) is a bit beyond her (/t͡ʃ/ is a sound that develops mid-late in the acquisition process (Hoff, 2010)) so she simplifies it as /t/ (Lust, 2006). /θæŋk ju/ ðɛː(ɹ) pænts bæθ __FORCETOC__ Category:Dialogue